a nature blog of south-east Victoria, mostly Gippsland

Camping along Ben Cruachan creek

After Christmas we decided on a camping trip for two nights up to one of our favourite spots in Victoria, Ben Cruachan creek in the high country of central Gippsland. This area we stumbled upon in 2011 after following a very steep track with several river crossings from the Avon-Mt Hedrick Scenic Reserve. At this time the very popular Hugget’s Crossing in the reserve was a sea of people and dirt bikes so that’s why we headed bush as far as we could.

So, 3 years later our family were back, this time with a few of the extended family in tow as well. After travelling nearly 1 hr north from Heyfield we reached the small but prominent mountain of Ben Cruachan. A short drive to the top and we were rewarded by a fantastic but very windy view to the north and east.

View from Ben Cruachan lookout

Next on to the Ben Cruachan Creek which runs to the north of the mountain. Here there are several creek crossings with a couple of small campsites. Our favourite campsite was close to a very deep hole on the creek beside a cliff of which we dived down several times but could not reach the bottom!

Deep hole on Ben Cruachan Creek

We tried fishing in this deep hole but no luck, although there were a few large Short-finned Eel Anguilla australis swimming around.

Creek opposite campsite

The creek and bush were alive with birds and insects as well as the most Red bellied Black Snakes Psuedechis porphyriacus I’ve ever seen in one place! In one spot we counted 6 within about 50 metres, most of which dived into the stream when we got near and swam to the other side. Our 7 year old daughter is still cleaning her pants out after one surprised her by bursting out of a small bush near her foot and ‘jumped’ in the water! She did the right thing by freezing but she did let out a muffled scream. We thought it might be best if we head back to camp at this point.

Red-belly swimming

A big Red-belly

I did notice an interesting behaviour the next day with one Red-belly which was foraging along the rocky stream bank in the cool morning and turning over and rummaging around small rocks with its nose apparently looking for food, most likely frogs I’d gather.

Another reptile along the stream bank was the Yellow-bellied Water Skink Eulamprus heatwoleii which was even more common than the snakes and found along fallen logs.

Yellow-bellied Water Skink

These skinks are very inquisitive and if frightened will disappear only to emerge not long after in full view of a wanna-be photographer who is searching the ground at his feet for Red-bellies.

One Gippsland Water Dragon Intellagama lesueurii howittii was seen on the bank but had the very smart idea to be on the opposite side to the snakes although it did scramble up the bank hysterically when I frightened a Red-belly into the water which headed directly toward the Water Dragon.

A single Lace Monitor Varanus varius was hawking around a recently abandoned campsite further upstream, most likely looking for scraps left behind.

Lace Monitor

Insects were abundant along the stream. The Arrowhead Rockmaster Diphlebia nymphoides with its striking blue male and golden female were the most common dragonfly seen and many were hunting up and down the stream for insects.

Arrowhead Rockmaster (male)

Arrowhead Rockmaster (female)

Other common insects were the Water Striders (Hemiptera:Geridae) which were abundant on the surface of the stream and many of these were mating.

Of the Butterflies by far the most common were the Australian Painted Lady Vanessa kershawi and mostly female Common Brown Heteronympha merope.

Australian Painted Lady on Leptospermum

Birds were very common in this area and a pair of Sacred Kingfishers were hanging around the deep pool area looking frustrated at our family for disturbing their favourite fishing spot. Some of the birds around camp were Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Shining Bronze-Cuckoo, Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Gang-gang Cockatoo, Olive-backed Oriole, Satin Flycatcher, Eastern Whipbird, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Splendid Fairy-wren, Spotted Pardalote, Eastern Yellow-robin, Crimson Rosella, Welcome Swallow, Silvereye, Pied Currawong, Laughing Kookaburra, Yellow-tufted and Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, Brown Thornbill, Grey Shrike-thrush and Grey Fantail. Southern Boobooks called every night and at one stage two were calling together. This was followed later by a pair courting and both making the unusual continuous ‘por-por-por…’